War

Ukraine skeleton star Vladyslav Heraskevych won’t be sliding for Olympic gold this year ... because officials have benched him over a helmet honoring Ukrainian athletes killed in the war -- and now the decision is sparking a global firestorm.

The Ukrainian Olympian -- widely seen as a legit medal threat -- was disqualified from competing after refusing to ditch a custom helmet featuring tributes to more than 20 fallen Ukrainian athletes and coaches who died during Russia’s invasion.

Olympic officials say the tribute crossed a line.

A presidential aircraft dubbed the “Doomsday Plane" was recently spotted at LAX ... and social media has already jumped to the most disastrous conclusions.

The Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post was filmed landing in Los Angeles on Thursday ... and it's a pretty big freaking deal given the current extreme global tensions.

Basically, this is the bird President Trump would travel in amid a nuclear war ... so yeah, people are going bananas online.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly requested up to 50 years’ worth of security guarantees for his country during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday.

While a proposed 20-point peace plan would ensure 15 years of security guarantees, which are mostly focused on stalling Russian aggression towards Ukraine, Zelensky asked for further guarantees from the United States, according to CNBC.

Trump spoke to reporters following the end of his meeting with Zelensky and claimed the sit-down went well, save for "one or two very thorny issues" remaining.

POTUS stated the issues were centered on what he described as "the land" -- portions of Ukrainian soil have been occupied by Russian forces, while others are still being fought over -- and said Ukrainian officials were "better off making a deal now."

The Pentagon is cherry picking data when it tries to shoot down a popular new movie's portrayal of America's $50 billion nuclear missile defenses ... at least according to national security analyst Joseph Cirincione, who says 'House of Dynamite' has it right!

Check out our chat with Joseph Tuesday on TMZ Live, where he said the government can only declare our anti-ICBM system 100 percent effective if it limits available test results to the last 10 years.

However, he insists the Netflix movie "A House of Dynamite" is far more accurate with the 60 percent success rate in its script.

The Pentagon has called BS on Netflix's "A House of Dynamite," saying its depiction of America's capability to strike down a nuclear attack is wildly inaccurate ... but a national security expert is raising red flags.

Fred Kaplan, a political journalist and former defense-policy adviser, joined CNN on Tuesday and said Kathryn Bigelow's war thriller is actually quite accurate, with its line stating America's $50 billion nuclear missile defense is accurate half the time.

He also slammed the Pentagon for the "dangerous" act of purposefully misleading top officials in a mid-month internal memorandum obtained by Bloomberg that claims the pricey system of interceptors has 100% accuracy.

Eliya Cohen -- formerly a hostage in Gaza -- tells TMZ President Donald Trump has gained massive popularity in Israel thanks to the new peace deal ... but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? Not so much.

Cohen joined us on "TMZ Live" Monday, saying ... "Here in Israel Trump is a hero. Just because of him, I am released, and I'm alive."

Cohen, who was set free in February, was reportedly held captive for 505 days after Hamas militants abducted him from the Nova music festival October 7, 2023.

Donald Trump is being hailed as a hero and peacemaker in Israel ... after 20 living hostages were returned home from Gaza.

The prez spoke to the Israeli parliament on the heels of his peace plan to end the war in Gaza -- where he was met with a huge standing ovation.

Trump is speaking defiantly, declaring, "This is not only the end of a war. This is the end of the age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God."